Skip to main content

Doing Critical Ethnography

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Critical Studies of Education ((CSOE,volume 6))

Abstract

This chapter describes in greater detail the research methodology underpinning the research on which this book is based. Drawing on the tradition of critical ethnography, it advocates a form of research that acknowledges and respects the voices of young people and what they have to say about their lives and imagined futures. Based on these narrative portraits the book seeks to create a new set of possibilities based on the needs, interests, dreams and aspirations of young people themselves. In this chapter we defend the importance of:

  • listening to student voices

  • gathering stories and making sense

  • representing students’ lives through portraiture

  • speaking back to policy and practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    All city names, places and schools have a pseudonym to protect the privacy of participants and partners.

References

  • Alvesson, M., & Skoldberg, K. (2009). Reflexive methodology: New vistas for qualitative research. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, G., & Herr, K. (Eds.). (2007). Encyclopedia of activism and social justice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnot, M., & Swartz, S. (2012). Youth citizenship and the politics of belonging: Introducing contexts, voices, imaginaries. Comparative Education, 48, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, P., & Delamont, S. (2006). In the roiling smoke: Qualitative inquiry and contested fields. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(6), 747–755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barley, R., & Russell, L. (2016. September 19–21). Ethnography: More than the written field note. Paper presented at the Oxford ethnography and education conference Plenary session, Oxford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baroutsis, A., McGregor, G., & Mills, M. (2016). Pedagogic voice: Student voice in teaching and engagement pedagogies. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 24(1), 123–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, R. (1988). Conversations with a purpose: The ethnographic interview in educational research. Studies in Qualitative Methodology, 1(1), 137–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey, G. (2015). The not so simple act of collaborative reading. In D. Adelaide (Ed.), The simple act of reading (pp. 135–143). Sydney, NSW: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clair, R. P. (2003). The changing story of ethnography. In R. P. Clair (Ed.), Expressions of ethnography (pp. 3–26). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clandinin, D., & Connelly, F. (1988). Teachers as curriculum planners: Narratives of experience. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clandinin, J., Caine, V., & Steeves, P. (2013). Methodology. In J. Clandinin, P. Steeves, & V. Caine (Eds.), Composing lives in transition: A narrative inquiry into the experiences of early school leavers (pp. 43–52). London: Emerald Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook-Sather, A. (2007). Translating researchers: Re-imagining the work of investigating students’ experiences in school. In D. Thiessen & A. Cook-Sather (Eds.), International handbook of student experience in elementary and secondary school (pp. 829–871). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Cook-Sather, A. (2013). Translating learners, researchers, and qualitative approaches through investigations of students’ experiences in school. Qualitative Research, 13(3), 352–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cortazzi, M. (2005). Narrative analysis in ethnography. In P. Atkinson, A. Coffey, S. Delamont, J. Lofland, & L. Lofland (Eds.), Handbook of ethnography (pp. 384–394). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N., Lincoln, Y., & Giardina, M. (2006). Disciplining qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(6), 769–782.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Down, B., & Smyth, J. (2012). ‘Getting a job’: Vocationalisation, identity formation, and critical ethnographic inquiry. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 44(3), 203–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Down, B., Smyth, J., Robinson, J., & McInerney, P. (2014). Rethinking the conditions for young people ‘getting a job’: Kids have something to say. Perth, WA: Murdoch University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farahmandpur, R. (2009). A critical pedagogy of hope in times of despair. In S. Macrine (Ed.), Critical pedagogy in uncertain times: Hope and possibilities (pp. 97–115). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fielding, M. (2004). Transformative approaches to student voice: Theoretical underpinnings, recalcitrant realities. British Educational Research Journal, 30(2), 295–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fielding, M., & Moss, P. (2011). Radical education and the common school: A democratic alternative. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fielding, M., & Rudduck, J. (2002, September 12–14). The transformative potential of student voice: Confronting the power issues. Paper presented at the Annual conference of the British Educational Research Association, University of Exeter, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foley, D. (2002). Introduction. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 15(4), 383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. First published 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garner, H. (1996). True stories: Selected non-fiction. Melbourne, VIC: Text Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, T. P. (2011). Foreword. In J. Lave (Ed.), Apprenticeship in critical ethnographic practice (pp. ix–xi). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination: Essays on education, the arts, and social change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, M. (2005). Teaching in a moment of crisis: The spaces of imagination. The New Educator, 1(2), 77–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellock, P. (2007). Youth voice: Peer research into youth transitions. Melbourne, VIC: Youth Affairs Council of Victoria. http://www.yacvic.org.au

  • Krumer-Nevo, M., & Sidi, M. (2012). Writing against othering. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(4), 200–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lather, P. (1986). Research as praxis. Harvard Education Review, 56(3), 257–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J. (2011). Apprenticeship in critical ethnographic practice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (2005). Reflections on portraiture: A dialogue between art and science. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(1), 3–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Davis, J. H. (1997). The art and science of portraiture. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levison, B. (2001). We are all equal: Student culture and identity at a Mexican secondary School. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald, R. (2009). Precarious work. In A. Furlong (Ed.), Handbook of youth and young adulthood: New perspectives and agendas (pp. 167–175). Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madison, D. S. (2005). Critical ethnography: Methods, ethics, and performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, C. W. (1971). The sociological imagination. New York: Penguin Books. First published 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouffe, C. (2000). The democratic paradox. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagle, J. (2001). Voices from the margins: The stories of vocational high school students. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nairn, K., Higgins, J., & Sligo, J. (2012). Children of Rogernomics: A neoliberal generation leaves school. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakkula, M. (2003). Identity and possibility. In M. Sadowski (Ed.), Adolescents at school: Perspectives on youth, identity, and education (pp. 7–18). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasco, B. (2000). Students at risk: Engaging students in participatory critical research. Education Links, 60(Winter), 30–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudduck, J., & Flutter, J. (2004). How to improve your school: Giving pupils voice. London: Continuum Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shacklock, G., Smyth, J., & Wilson, N. (1998, November–December). Conceptualising and capturing voices in dropout research. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Adelaide.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shannon, P. (1993). Developing democratic voices. The Reading Teacher, 47(2), 86–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B. J. (2000). Marginalized youth, delinquency, and education: The need for critical-interpretive research. The Urban Review, 32(3), 293–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J. (2010). Speaking back to educational policy: Why social inclusion will not work for disadvantaged Australian schools. Critical Studies in Education, 51(2), 113–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J., Angus, L., Down, B., & McInerney, P. (2006). Critical ethnography for school and community renewal around social class differences affecting learning. Learning Communities: International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts, 3, 121–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J., Down, B., McInerney, P., & Hattam, R. (2014). Doing critical educational research: A conversation with the research of John Smyth. New York: Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J., & Hattam, R. (2001). ‘Voiced’ research as a sociology for understanding ‘dropping out’ of school. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22(3), 401–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J., & McInerney, P. (2012). From silent witnesses to active agents. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J., & McInerney, P. (2013). Whose side are you on? Advocacy ethnography: Some methodological aspects of narrative portraits of disadvantaged young people in socially critical research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J., & Wrigley, T. (2013). Living on the edge: Rethinking poverty, class and schooling. New York: Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sultana, R. (1992). Ethnography and the politics of absence. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 5(1), 19–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weis, L., & Fine, M. (2001). Extraordinary conversations in public schools. Qualitative Studies in Education, 14(4), 497–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, R., & Wyn, J. (2013). Youth and society (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis, P. (2000). The ethnographic imagination. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Down, B., Smyth, J., Robinson, J. (2018). Doing Critical Ethnography. In: Rethinking School-to-Work Transitions in Australia. Critical Studies of Education, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72269-6_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72269-6_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72268-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72269-6

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics